The benefits of karma

[dsanchez]

A few weeks ago we enabled the "karma" feature in the forum, and there was quite a long discussion explaining how useful it would be.

Well, now we can see the first results. Jeff, one of the members of the staff went to the mexican shows, taped them, and published the setlist from each night right after the concert. Plus, he uploaded some sample songs and even the entire concert. This shows how Jeff, as other members, care about the Cure community.

But because we can't thank him with material things, the forum allow us to give him a "positive karma". Instead of a "thank you Jeff", we can clic [aplause] under his nickname and show him how grateful we are. Today, Jeff's work is recognized and he has the highest karma since it was enabled: 31 points.

Everyone always like recognition to his/her work, and the "karma" is definitely a good way to give this recognition to those who well contribute to the community.

[Steve]

Nice one Jeff.
 

[devoblue]

Yeah Jeff, Well done and thanks for your efforts with the Mexico concerts.


I am left scratching my head about karma however.  By enabling the ability for people to be praised anonymously you also enabled the ability for people to be criticised anonymously.  If we are to care about a high karma level, we must also care about a negative karma level.

I used to have a karma of 1.  I got that after posting what I thought was a useful post on a topic, so I think I know why I got it.  Just lately my 1 point of karma went away.  I can conclude that someone read one of my posts and for some reason decided that I deserved to loose that point.  I don't know who it was, what I said, or what about it they didn't like or disagreed with.  For all I know it could have been some completely random act.  If it was any one of you reading this, that's ok, I'm not personaly upset, nor am I fishing for more karma - my situation is not what this is about, but is used by way of example.

So, what am I and others in this situation supposed to do about this?  I could choose to ignore karma.  I could choose to try for a large negative karma to prove how little I care about it.  I could choose to no longer visit this site.  I could choose to antagonize over every post I have ever made since joining to work out if there was something there that someone could have been upset over.  I could reduce my future posting to only posts that I have thouroughly analysed to ensure there is no chance of getting bad karma from them.  I could ensure that I don't post anything that might encourage debate, as that might get me smited. I could sit in a dark room with a bottle of red wine listening to Faith turned up loud and ponder all the bad things I've done.

It's just to me the message seems to be, be happy when you get karma, don't worry about it when you loose karma.  That's a way of thinking that is not going to be default for a lot of people, and we may find we end upseting more people by having it around.


The other thing that karma will do is remove the need to analyse a lively debate to work out which side to take.  If I see a thread with J (karma +30) debating with Brent (karma -10) I don't need to actually read the posts.  I could quickly add to the thread "Right on J!.  Get a life Brent!" and never know what it is about (and I may even get karma for that post).  For all I know, J could have been angry and overly harsh, while Brent could have been struggling to communicate effectively and get the valid parts of his point of view across.


I think we can all say well done to Jeff for his efforts, and many of us have in actual posts.  We don't need karma to do this.

David, thanks for running a great site.  Please don't let it turn into a popularity contest that scares new members away when they loose a point of karma, as they usually will, whilst finding their feet here.

[cure_kitty]

Please don't let it turn into a popularity contest that scares new members away when they loose a point of karma, as they usually will, whilst finding their feet here.

I have to agree with devoblue.  Being a new member on this forum that's only been on for a few weeks, I feel very unsure on what to post anymore.   I keep thinking that maybe what I’ve posted so far is just boring, useless dribble that no one wants to read.  It’s hard for me to post something worth reading because I'm not always sure how to express my thoughts & feelings without sounding stupid and I’m quite shy too even on-line.   Maybe some of my posts are not too well versed or may seem unmeaningful but at least I can say I’m trying to be a Positive & Supportive CureFans.Com Member!    I joined this forum because most of the fans here seem very nice and have lots of intresting things to say.    All I want to do is chat with other Cure Fans about The Cure and not worry about whatever I will get a bad or good karma rating.
 
So far I have a -3 karma and I really cannot see why.  I've only posted 13 times mostly to say Thanks to other members for their hard work and how I feel about the new songs.  I see not harm in that.  Actually, the last time I posted here was last Thursday & I had 0 karma and now I’ve got a -3 & I’ve posted nothing since then.  I don’t feel that I’m posting any meaningless threads, one word, short or nonsense posts.  I’m not slamming, being rude, insulting or attacking anyone on here nor the band.  From my point of view, having the negative karma might make people think that maybe I'm a rotten member hating everyone & causing problems which I am not.  At least, I don’t feel that I’ve have been but who knows???  Maybe I’m being too sensitive about this.  It shouldn’t really matter but I feel a little upset.
 
So for now I choose to just ignore the karma whether it is good or bad.  If someone does not want to chat with me because of the negative karma then it is their loss not mine.  Life is way to short to get upset over this sort of stuff.  I will continue to post and contribute when I can & will just have to face the fact that this may happen & live with it.  In one way it is good to have karma so that we can praise members who do an excellent job with the community here and visa versa.  But in the end, someone feelings will get hurt when they lose the karma (for no real good reason) & we just might lose members (especially new ones) because of this.
 
And how do you actually give any type of karma out?  Do you have to have special privileges or have so many posts before you can do so?  I’ve been wanting to give a few members some good karma for their hard work but I see no applause icon under their names so all I can do is say Thank you in the topic for now. 

Yeah Jeff, Well done and thanks for your efforts with the Mexico concerts.

Yes I want to say Thanks to J too!  You’re hard work is greatly appreciated!   

David, thanks for running a great site.

Yes david the site is one of the best!  Thanks for all your hard work!  Keep it going on & on! 

[scatcat]

cure_kitty, so far as I understand, the karma privelages, that is, to give and take away, only become available to "coolfans",  not "newfans".  I don't know why?  Maybe someone can explain this reason..?
Once you post enough you can use this feature.  So keep at it and you will be able to use this feature!!
 
I find it hard to restrain myself when I want to thank someone too.. I would like to actually post it in the forum.

 

[Steve]

@scatcat

I didn't realise that.
But I suppose it is the same sort of post threshold that gets you into audio menus etc.
I think the idea is that people stay around, rather than just post a couple of times & vanish.

[agusramirez]

WTF?!!!! I' ve already have -1. How can I know who gave that to me??

AR

[cure_kitty]

cure_kitty, so far as I understand, the karma privelages, that is, to give and take away, only become available to "coolfans",  not "newfans".  I don't know why?  Maybe someone can explain this reason..?
Once you post enough you can use this feature.  So keep at it and you will be able to use this feature!!
 
I find it hard to restrain myself when I want to thank someone too.. I would like to actually post it in the forum.

 

That is what I thought scatcat.  Thanks for letting me know.   

[dsanchez]

WTF?!!!! I' ve already have -1. How can I know who gave that to me??

AR

Take it easy. You have just 87 posts and -1. I have like 1400 posts and just +10. Should I be worried? No. People is just starting to use this feature...

[ROGUE]

Thank you Jeff for awsum recordings.

Also thank you to David and JapaneseBaby for their time and effort  and everyone else   

I dont really like to talk about this subject, since the long discussion, but sure it is the infancy stage and will eventually run smoothly.   

[MeltingMan]

But in the end, someone feelings will get hurt when they lose the karma (for no real good reason) & we just might lose members (especially new ones) because of this.

Just the same happened to me in a different forum (not The Cure) last year.The whole thing
wasn't clear to me until I read the karma thread a useful function when you're more familiar
with the forum itself.A negative karma is surely problematic for new members.Then it's up
to you to delete your profile or not.I decided to delete my account and now I'm feeling better.

[dsanchez]

with the forum itself.A negative karma is surely problematic for new members.Then it's up
to you to delete your profile or not.I decided to delete my account and now I'm feeling better.

The application we use to run this forum will have this feature removed in its next version. It will be replaced for a "Like" button for comments instead, like on Facebook.

[Ulrich]

... will be replaced for a "Like" button for comments instead, like on Facebook.

If I could already, I would "like" this post! 

[MeltingMan]

The application we use to run this forum will have this feature removed in its next version. It will be replaced for a "Like" button for comments instead, like on Facebook.

I forgot to mention that the "Like" button was not anonymous in the former forum.
However deleting a profile is quite frankly a less-than-ideal solution.The main thing is
to keep this forum alive.